USA TODAY International Edition
Suicide bomber kills 5 Israelis at market
Militant group claims attack was revenge for of * cial’s murder
HADERA, Israel — A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up Wednesday at a falafel stand in an open- air market, killing himself and * ve Israelis in the deadliest attack i n Israel in m o re t han three months.
The bombing sti = ed faint peace hopes following Israel’s Gaza pullout, and embarrassed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who only hours earlier had scolded militant groups for repeatedly violating a truce.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, saying the attack was to avenge the killing of its West Bank leader by Israeli forces this week.
A section of the food stand’s metal roof hung from a eucalyptus tree high above the open- air market in this central Israeli town. Rescue workers covered bodies with blankets, walking on pools of blood and shattered glass.
Jack Weinberg, a Brooklyn- born psychologist in Hadera, arrived at the scene shortly after the blast and saw a destroyed car. “ If this could happen to a car, which is made of metal, I was afraid of what it could do to a person,” he said.
Then he saw a dismembered body with its face still intact. “ It was the most frightening thing,” he said.
The blast hit hours after Iran’s state- run media reported comments from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling for Israel to be “ wiped off the map” and saying a new wave of Palestinian attacks would destroy the Jewish state.
Recalling Iran’s history of support for Islamic Jihad, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev criticized both Ahmadinejad’s statement and another from Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader in Gaza who threatened renewed violence against Israel.
“ Today, Israelis heard two extremists speak openly about destroying the Jewish state. One was the new president of Iran, and the other was the leader of Hamas, Mahmoud Zahar. And it appears the problem with these extremists is that they followed through on their violent declarations with violent actions,” Regev told the Associated Press ( AP).
The White House condemned the bombing as “ a heinous attack on innocent civilians.”
“ Our condolences go out to the families of the victims and those who have been injured,” spokesman Scott McClellan said.
In a phone call to the AP, Islamic Jihad said the bombing was to avenge the killing of Luay Saadi, leader of the group’s military wing in the West Bank. Saadi was killed in a shootout with Israeli soldiers closing in on his hide-out in the Tulkarem refugee camp on Monday.
Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Islamic Jihad chief Fathi Shekaki outside a Malta hotel in a mission widely attributed to Israel.
Islamic Jihad signed on to an informal truce with Israel in February but made the pledge meaningless by reserving the right to retaliate for any perceived Israeli violations. The last four suicide bombings in Israel — in March, July and September, and on Wednesday— were carried out by Islamic Jihad. These blasts killed a total of 15 Israelis and wounded dozens.
In response, Israeli forces have stepped up their hunt for Islamic Jihad militants in the West Bank.
Abbas condemned the suicide attack, saying in a statement, “ It harms Palestinian interests and could widen the cycle of violence, chaos, extremism and bloodshed.”